MRI-Based Assessment of Trunk and Hip Muscle Morphology and Strength in Chronic Low Back Pain

Danijel Ivanac; Hrvoje Vlahović; Sandra Rusac Kukić; Antonija Ružić Baršić; Andrica Lekić; Juraj Arbanas

doi:10.12659/MSM.951651

15 February 2026 : Clinical Research

MRI-Based Assessment of Trunk and Hip Muscle Morphology and Strength in Chronic Low Back Pain

Danijel Ivanac

^{ABCDEF 1*}, Hrvoje Vlahović

^{ACDEF 2}, Sandra Rusac Kukić

^{ABCDF 3}, Antonija Ružić Baršić

^{ABCDEF 4}, Andrica Lekić

^{ABCEF 5}, Juraj Arbanas

^{ABCDEFG 6}

DOI: 10.12659/MSM.951651

Med Sci Monit 2026; 32:e951651

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Table 6 Correlation analysis of hip muscle peak torque and cross-sectional area across spinal levels in experimental and control groups.

Muscle	Side	Level	Hip flexors
			Experimental group				Control group
			R		L		R		L
			r(X,Y)	P	r(X,Y)	P	r(X,Y)	P	r(X,Y)	P
RA	R	L5/S1	0.531	0.000	0.464	0.001	0.347	0.060	0.300	0.108
RA	L	L5/S1	0.574	0.000	0.505	0.000	0.295	0.113	0.287	0.124
QL	R	L1/L2	0.509	0.000	0.469	0.001	0.323	0.082	0.314	0.091
		L2/L3	0.510	0.000	0.474	0.001	0.282	0.131	0.229	0.224
		L3/L4	0.331	0.019	0.379	0.007	0.245	0.192	0.181	0.340
	L	L1/L2	0.430	0.002	0.397	0.004	0.274	0.142	0.288	0.122
		L2/L3	0.476	0.000	0.446	0.001	0.257	0.171	0.257	0.171
		L3/L4	0.464	0.001	0.496	0.000	0.245	0.191	0.215	0.254
PM	R	L1/L2	0.325	0.021	0.244	0.088	0.154	0.416	0.176	0.353
		L2/L3	0.460	0.001	0.440	0.001	0.254	0.176	0.274	0.143
		L3/L4	0.577	0.000	0.555	0.000	0.259	0.167	0.269	0.150
		L4/L5	0.648	0.000	0.615	0.000	0.406	0.026	0.391	0.033
		L5/S1	0.678	0.000	0.627	0.000	0.360	0.050	0.404	0.027
	L	L1/L2	0.473	0.001	0.425	0.002	0.077	0.688	0.139	0.462
		L2/L3	0.445	0.001	0.448	0.001	0.214	0.256	0.258	0.169
		L3/L4	0.554	0.000	0.540	0.000	0.270	0.149	0.332	0.073
		L4/L5	0.596	0.000	0.591	0.000	0.397	0.030	0.412	0.024
		L5/S1	0.625	0.000	0.593	0.000	0.410	0.024	0.444	0.014
IL	R	L5/S1	0.461	0.001	0.440	0.001	0.330	0.074	0.301	0.106
IL	L	L5/S1	0.474	0.001	0.492	0.000	0.238	0.205	0.216	0.251
RA	R	L5/S1	0.407	0.003	0.390	0.005	0.241	0.200	0.287	0.124
RA	L	L5/S1	0.467	0.001	0.479	0.000	0.256	0.172	0.279	0.136
QL	R	L1/L2	0.357	0.011	0.373	0.008	0.244	0.194	0.160	0.398
		L2/L3	0.338	0.016	0.387	0.006	0.087	0.649	0.054	0.778
		L3/L4	0.180	0.211	0.245	0.087	0.059	0.755	0.087	0.649
	L	L1/L2	0.325	0.021	0.360	0.010	0.190	0.313	0.161	0.395
		L2/L3	0.270	0.058	0.318	0.024	0.162	0.393	0.106	0.577
		L3/L4	0.307	0.030	0.345	0.014	0.148	0.436	0.109	0.565
PM	R	L1/L2	0.267	0.061	0.180	0.212	0.223	0.235	0.007	0.969
		L2/L3	0.346	0.014	0.308	0.030	0.282	0.131	0.212	0.261
		L3/L4	0.447	0.001	0.460	0.001	0.270	0.149	0.177	0.349
		L4/L5	0.475	0.000	0.497	0.000	0.329	0.076	0.285	0.127
		L5/S1	0.482	0.000	0.504	0.000	0.226	0.230	0.261	0.163
	L	L1/L2	0.393	0.005	0.316	0.025	0.248	0.187	0.062	0.746
		L2/L3	0.361	0.010	0.322	0.023	0.257	0.171	0.191	0.312
		L3/L4	0.440	0.001	0.441	0.001	0.302	0.104	0.242	0.197
		L4/L5	0.487	0.000	0.525	0.000	0.358	0.052	0.338	0.068
		L5/S1	0.478	0.000	0.528	0.000	0.267	0.154	0.355	0.054
IL	R	L5/S1	0.327	0.020	0.321	0.023	0.287	0.124	0.246	0.189
IL	L	L5/S1	0.358	0.011	0.388	0.005	0.189	0.318	0.159	0.401
PM – psoas major; QL – quadratus lumborum; RA – rectus abdominis; IL – iliacus; R – right; L – left.

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MRI-Based Assessment of Trunk and Hip Muscle Morphology and Strength in Chronic Low Back Pain

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